Tutor: Jenny Lim
Prepared by: Janice Kwan
June, 2008.

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Background information:
I am teaching Form 2 and Form 5 in an EMI school. My school is a co-education school with about 40-41 students in each class in the lower form. All the Form 4 and Form 5
English classes are split classes. There are around 22-28 students in each split class.
(1) Planning for curriculum renewal
There is a module about Halloween in the Form 2 syllabus. We use the materials in
Longman Express for this module and the English Association organizes a Halloween
Party every year in October. This arrangement has been followed for 5-6 years and I want to add some fresh elements in the module. In view of the new NSS curriculum and assessment criteria, I would like to add more language arts elements in the module and adopt a portfolio assessment method in assessing the students. For the Halloween Party, I hope to use more varieties of activities to arouse students’ interest in the topic and help them learn English outside the classroom.
(2) Creating a vision
Through using language arts materials in teaching the module,
(a) students will be aware of the cultural background related to the theme
(b) students will be given more opportunities to express their views and opinions through the activities
(c) students will develop their creativities and imaginations
(d) students will learn and use the authentic language related to the theme
(e) students will enjoy learning English
(f) students will be prepared for the NSS language arts electives
Through the use of portfolio assessment,
(a) students will become more independent in their learning
(b) students will see their learning process and progress
(c) students will reflect on their own learning process and hence understand how they learn and how they can improve in their learning
Through the Halloween Party,
(a) students can enjoy celebrating ‘Halloween’
(b) students can practice using English outside the classroom in a relaxing and fun environment
(c) students can express their creativity and practice their problem solving skills in organizing the party and/or participating in the activities
(3) Analyzing the existing program
We have been using Longman Express 2A the Halloween module as the class teaching materials. The module contains some language arts elements like a comic strip and a poem. However, these materials are used for arousing interests and teaching grammar and there is very limited opportunity for students to express their views and opinions using language arts.

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The assessment task is still a writing task. Students are asked to write a short play about
Halloween. From my past experience, students are not very creative in writing the short play. I believe they do not have enough input in doing the task.
All the Form 2 students need to participate in the Halloween Party held in October. Each
Form 2 class needs to design a game stall and the English Association will also provide one. We had a Halloween costume competition at the party last year and the students enjoyed that. However, the quality of the game stalls varied with different classes and there are not enough varieties of activities for students.
Last year, the Form 1 students used the book ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ as their class reader. So next year’s Form 2 students should be familiar with the Halloween theme already. We should be able to spend more time doing different activities related to the theme next year.
(4) Planning for action
A. Class periods
I plan to add the following activities in the class when teaching this module.
(a) to use a film trailer and film clips
(b) to design a Halloween Town
(c) to use poems (students reading and writing poems)
(d) to do readers theater using a short script
(e) to create photo essays after the Halloween party
(f) to create a video clip using www.dolver.com
(g) to write a friendly letter
B. Extra-curricular activities
I plan to ask the Home Economics teacher to add a lesson teaching students how to make
Halloween food.
For the Halloween Party, apart from the existing activities that we always have (e.g. apple bobbing and Halloween costume competition), I plan to add the following activities:
(a) tongue twisters
(b) Halloween jokes
(c) Halloween on-line games
(5) Revising the programme
A.
Class periods
(a) I’ll take out the introduction part of the module and use the film trailers and film clips to introduce the theme.
(b) I’ll take out the poem used in the module and use other poems instead. I’ll also ask students to write their own poems.
(c) I’ll take out the part on ‘Halloween play’ part in the module and do reader theatre instead. Since students won’t need to create a play, there should be plenty of time left for other activities.
(d) Other activities can be done outside class

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B Extra-curricular activities
(a) Talk to the Home Economics teacher and decide how to incorporate the
Halloween theme in her schedule
(b) The extra activities can be easily arranged with the English Association.
(6) Implementing a revised programme
(a) Find resources and rewrite the lesson plan for this module
(b) Communicate with the Home Economic teacher and English Association department on the changes
(7) Programme evaluation
Adapted from Teaching & Learning in the Language Classroom . (Hedge, 2000)
(a) Student feedback i.
ask students to write their feedback and include in their portfolio ii.
interview some students from each class iii.
hold an evaluation with the English Association
(b) Teacher feedback i.
hold an evaluation with the Form 2 teachers
(c) Observation i.
Observe the students’ performance in class and in the extra-curricular activities ii.
Do peer class observation with another Form 2 teacher and ask for critical comment iii.
Video tape students’ performance in the reader theatre and analyze the performance of the students in comparison with the teacher’s expectations.
(d) Documents i.
Review lesson objectives ii.
Review lesson plans and materials and write evaluative comments.
Look for points to improve on. iii.
Review students’ portfolios (including their work and feedback form) and pinpoint issues to work on.
On-line Resources:
1. http://funschool.kaboose.com/fun-blaster/halloween/index.html
2. http://holidays.kaboose.com/halloween/
3. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/learn/collections/suff/langarts3.html
4. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808740474/trailer
5. http://www.alltrailers.net/the-nightmare-before-christmas.html
6. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/wordplay/
7. http://www.dover.com
8. http://www.hkedcity.net/article/halloween2002/games/
9. http://www.hkedcity.net/article/halloween2002/recipes/
10. http://www.hkedcity.net/english/watch/film/findout.phtml?eread_film_id=43
11. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107688/
12. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/education/lesson27_organizer3.html